A rear yard behind a butcher’s shop, a pub car park hemmed in by a boundary wall, a farm track with one tight turn at the gate: plenty of sites that need cold storage cannot physically take a 20ft box. The 10ft refrigerated container answers that constraint — around 15 m³ of insulated space, four to five pallets, a footprint barely bigger than a parking bay, and occasionally a 230 V single-phase unit that removes the three-phase problem altogether. EuroReefer is an editorial comparison site specialising entirely in refrigerated containers: no stock, no depot, no fleet. We pass your enquiry to specialist suppliers, who contact you directly if they can meet your requirement.
Hire the 10ft for the constraint, not the price
Per cubic metre, the 10ft is the dearest reefer size on the market. The refrigeration unit costs much the same whatever length of box it is bolted to, so on a 10ft that cost spreads over about half the volume of a 20ft. Supply is thin too: shipping lines run 20ft and 40ft reefers in enormous numbers and 10ft units hardly at all, so hire fleets hold fewer of them.
None of that matters when the larger box will not go in. The 10ft wins on access — narrow entries, arched carriage openings, terraced rear yards, town-centre loading bays with a timed window — and on standing: barely 7 m², which on a working yard decides whether you hire at all. If your approach and a crane lorry can take the longer box, price a 20ft as well: twice the capacity for a rate that does not double. Our main refrigerated container hire page compares the sizes side by side.
Who hires a 10ft in the UK
Small food retail. Butchers, fishmongers, greengrocers and farm shops taking overflow through the Christmas run, or cover while a cold room is stripped out and refitted — the shop cannot close, and the stock has to go somewhere chilled.
Street food and mobile catering. A fixed cold base at the unit, so a week of trading does not depend on a daily cash-and-carry run.
Small events. Village shows, weddings, beer festivals, a marquee bar — the drinks, dairy and desserts for an event a 20ft would over-serve, on ground a large box would block.
Shooting and game. Larder capacity through the season, when carcasses arrive in bursts rather than evenly and a domestic chiller stops being credible around the second drive.
Size, volume and footprint
| Size | Usable volume | Pallets | External footprint | External height |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10ft | ≈ 15 m³ | 4–5 | ≈ 2.99 × 2.44 m | ≈ 2.59 m |
| 20ft | ≈ 28 m³ | 10–11 | 6.06 × 2.44 m | 2.59 m |
| 40ft high cube | ≈ 67 m³ | 23 | 12.19 × 2.44 m | 2.90 m |
Read the 2.99 m carefully: it is an over-all external length measured across the refrigeration unit, and on a box this short the machinery and insulation take a proportionally large bite out of it, so the usable interior is markedly shorter. Plan the 10ft as a four-to-five-pallet cold room, not a three-metre one. The technical guides cover dimensions and floor loading in detail.
Power: the question that decides your shortlist
Most refrigerated containers need a three-phase 380/400 V supply through a 32 A five-pin CEE plug, drawing 5 to 12 kW depending on format. That is the commonest reason a small hire falls over: a shop, a stall or a paddock has no three-phase, and bringing it in means an electrician and possibly an upgraded connection.
This is where the small formats earn their place. Some 10ft units are built with a 230 V single-phase refrigeration unit, running off a suitably rated dedicated circuit — decisive where there is no three-phase. Not every fleet holds one, so state the constraint in your first enquiry; it filters the market for you. Failing that, a correctly sized generator will run the unit, with fuel as an extra budget line.
What 10ft hire costs
| Line | What to expect, ex VAT |
|---|---|
| Long-term hire | UK rates advertised from around £12 a day |
| Minimum term | 90 days is common; some suppliers do quote shorter lets |
| Short lets | priced per enquiry, higher per day than a long contract |
| Delivery and collection | charged per movement, by distance and site access |
| Electricity, 10ft at +2 °C | 50–70 kWh a day, ≈ £12.50–£17.50 at an illustrative 25p/kWh |
| VAT | 20% on top of ex-VAT figures |
Two things distort a small hire budget. Transport is the first: those costs are fixed whether the box stays a fortnight or a year, which is why short lets carry a higher daily rate — ordinary degressive pricing, not opportunism. Electricity is the second, and it never reads zero. Treat £12 a day as the floor of the UK market on a long contract, not as a 10ft tariff; rates move with term, size, set point and location. Our prices page sets out the wider picture.
Hire or buy
Past roughly 18 to 24 months of continuous use, buying usually wins the arithmetic. A used 10ft trades at about £2,500 to £7,000 ex VAT depending on grade, against a general UK bracket of £4,500 to £7,500 for the sizes that trade in volume, and a sound used reefer still has 10 to 15 years of service ahead of it. Against that, ownership puts the annual service, repairs and eventual resale on your books. Seasonal need usually stays on hire.
Getting comparable quotes
Standard units run from -25 °C to +25 °C, so the same box chills salad in July and holds frozen stock in December. Quotes are only comparable when they answer the same brief: size, set point, dates, the supply available on site (three-phase, 230 V or none), the delivery postcode and the access — gateway width, overhead clearance, surface. A couple of photographs of the standing spot heads off the expensive version of this conversation, which is a lorry that cannot deliver and still invoices.
Set out your requirement and we pass it to specialist suppliers, who contact you directly if they can meet it. Compare on delivered cost, unit condition and what the rate includes, not on the headline day rate alone.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to hire a 10ft refrigerated container in the UK?
UK refrigerated container hire is advertised from around £12 a day ex VAT, and that headline rate assumes a long contract — minimum terms of 90 days are common across the industry. Shorter lets exist with some suppliers but cost more per day, because delivery and collection are recovered over fewer days. Budget separately for transport, electricity and VAT at 20%.
Will a 10ft refrigerated container run on a 230 V supply?
Sometimes. The standard reefer connection is three-phase 380/400 V through a 32 A five-pin CEE plug, but some small formats are built with a 230 V single-phase unit that runs from a suitably rated dedicated circuit. Say so in your enquiry rather than after delivery: not every hire fleet holds one, and it is the quickest way to filter out units your site cannot power.
How much space does a 10ft reefer need on site?
Roughly 2.99 by 2.44 m externally — barely 7 m² of hardstanding, less than a parking bay. Add clearance for the doors to swing, airflow around the refrigeration unit at one end, and enough room for a crane-equipped lorry to reach the spot and set the box down. The ground must be level, firm and able to carry the container loaded.
How much electricity does a 10ft refrigerated container use?
Holding +2 °C, a 10ft draws around 2 to 3 kWh an hour, or 50 to 70 kWh a day; at an illustrative 25p per kWh that is £12.50 to £17.50 a day. Substitute your own contracted rate. Consumption climbs in hot weather, at frozen set points and every time the doors are opened. Electricity is billed to you, not to the hire company.